Takeaways from Our “Growing Your Sales at Whole Foods Market” Webinar
Getting shelf space with Whole Foods Market — the nation's biggest grocery chain in the Natural channel — can be a boon for any emerging brand.
To help entrepreneurs navigate the process of getting on shelf and succeeding at Whole Foods, Naturally Chicago and Presence Marketing hosted a free “Growing Your Sales at Whole Foods Market” webinar on September 21 .
If anyone should know the secrets to getting A-listed by Whole Foods, it's Presence, the leading broker in the Good Food and Natural Products industry since its founding more than 30 years ago.
Rob Browning, Director of Strategic Accounts at Presence, was joined on our expert panel by:
• Sonia Hendriks, Vice President of Sales-Natural, Califia Farms
• Melanie Knitzer, Sales Director, Eat the Change
• Jillian Jaffe, Sales Director, Wella Foods
Jim Slama, Managing Director of Naturally Chicago, moderated the event.
This article provides key takeaways from the discussion are below. To answer the full recording, including Rob Browning’s slide presentation, click the button below.
From Rob Browning’s presentation
• “Presence Marketing is a 30-plus-year national consumer packaged goods broker. We are full service. That means we cover everything from major headquarter calls with retailers, wholesalers and distributors, all the way down to having merchandisers at the shelf, watching over product, auditing, building displays and everything else…
“We also offer data reporting services, where we can take your data and build it into functional usable reports that can really help inform your business. And then we also have our market-ready services program, which is a form of a boot camp we use to help emerging brands get their feet under them and get themselves set up for growth.”
• “Whole Foods is the largest Natural retailer in the country. Something really good to know when you're thinking about working with Whole Foods is understanding where they're coming from.”
• “Whole Foods has legendarily strict quality standards that they've built themselves… There's a heavy focus on natural and organic. They're big supporters of non-GMO and the Non-GMO Project… There's a big focus on regenerative right now.”
• “Let’s talk a little bit about what to think about before you approach them. They do have some tools available to new suppliers who are not currently in the stores to help them understand the first steps to take to work with Whole Foods… Go ahead and get signed up for the supplier portal.”
• “If you're pushing the standard of a category… if your product is a step above anything that currently exists in the market or are you filling an entirely new need state for a premium customer, those are all good things to think about… as you start to build your story for them.
• “The other thing I want to call out is third-party certification. Whole Foods is not a fan of what they call self-certified products or self-made claims… Whole Foods really wants to see those third party certifications because they know that's what their customers trust and they're looking for, and that there is a full process behind it.”
• “Now for your business side, the first question is, ‘Are you ready to approach Whole Foods?’ You want to make sure that your product is ready to taste, you’re at a formal final formulation or really close to final…”
• “Something they get nervous about is if a brand expands too quickly, will they fall short on the supply side… So you want to really be sure that you have that reliable supply and production ability, whether you're self-producing or working with a co-packer, and have the ability to scale up from where you're currently at to the scale of business that Whole Foods is able to generate.”
• “And then the last one is on the financial piece… There is a significant investment to work with Whole Foods, and you really have to be ready to go all in if you want to succeed with them. So you want to make sure you have your pricing buttoned up in a way that's sustainable for you and that you can afford to cover the free fill requirements of Whole Foods for new products. And that you have to spend to support the product once it's in the store through promotions, marketing, demos, that sort of thing.”
• “You have to make a decision whether you want to stick with working with a local or regional buyer or step up to global to try to catch the whole country… One of the areas Whole Foods really tries to differentiate themselves when they're talking about assortment is to bring more of those local suppliers to light… You can submit simultaneously to regional and global. But if you are going to submit to global, that's definitely a situation where I would make sure that you are genuinely ready for it…”
• “It takes Whole Foods approximately eight months from the time you submit to the time that category view executes at shelf.”
• “The most important thing and hardest thing to do with Whole Foods is never stop innovating. Innovation is what really drives the passion of Whole Foods buyers, that's what they get excited about. They want to keep bringing new things to market in their sets, keep the excitement there, keep it fresh for their customers and keep them coming back. So if you get your initial placement, keep thinking about what's next, how's the brand gonna grow, whether within that category, or is there another category where your brand has licensed to move into, they want to see those ideas.”
Takeaways from the Panel Discussion
Sonia Hendriks: “Innovation is key to the partnership. And you have to do it in the very early stages… They want to feel special, they want to be the first, they want to have these exclusivities first to market… We [Califia Farms] made them the partner of our innovation, and that was key for us.”
Melanie Knitzer: “You have to start with surrounding yourself with great people to help you through this, whether it's picking the brains of other brands or other people in the industry, whether it's your own staff or, for us, it's having a great broker [Presence]…
“No one should be afraid to launch regionally. It's much better to be a regional brand and exceed the expectations than to want to be a national brand and underperform. Know your limitations, know your strengths, know how you can succeed, build a great selling story, and then start to expand.”
Jillian Jaffe: “The local forager program is sort of like Whole Foods Market’s idea of bringing a farmers market into a brick and mortar, which honestly is spot on for their demographic, because most of their demographic is going to be at the farmers market on the weekends.”
“Take care of all of the fact finding before you even talk to a [Whole Foods} category manager at the global level. And then of course, when you approach global, just ready to be nimble…”
Sonia (on dealing with Whole Foods buyers): “I think one of the keys especially that's been super successful for me throughout the years is being transparent, being honest.. You definitely want to make sure that they have trust in you.”
Melanie: “You have to be a good partner. And you have to always innovate and improve and support. And you have to be willing to make the hard decisions… The other thing that I learned was that you shouldn't expect them to do your homework for you, you have to come prepared, you have to make it simple for them. Because every buyer and everybody that we do business with today is overloaded and has too much on their plate.”
Jillian: “I tend to lead with authenticity and passion. I think that tends to be infectious. And before you know it, I'm checking in with you about your new Boston Terrier and asking how it’s adjusting to the house. And honestly, I think that that catches a lot of attention and partnership and trust.”
Rob (on the cost of doing business with Whole Foods): “It's really important to not take your foot off the gas at Whole Foods. A big part of that is making sure you're investing to win there. It is not cheap to promote and drive product in a chain that is 500-plus stores… There's a whole logistical piece behind the scenes at Whole Foods that it takes to execute promos, and there's a fee to that as well.”
This article was produced by Bob Benenson, Naturally Chicago communications consultant and publisher of the independent Local Food Forum.